The Fall Of Five
by SilenceIsFalling
Summary: Rewrite of the Fall Of Five with a few changes. Five is a girl, Eight is alive. I suck at summeries, just give it a try. R&R, No Flames Please
1. Warriors

**This Fic is a variation of a song Fic but instead of writing to a certain song I'm going to put a link to a song in with each chapter. While reading, put the music on repeat in the background. The name of thechapter will also likely be the name of the song. This story begins at chapter twelve of the fall of five, otherwise known as when Four, Six and Sarah get to Arkansas to find Five. Enjoy.**

 **Song: watch?v=VP9I8ZUwKpc Warriors by Imagine Dragons**

Night had fallen by the time we cross the Arkansas state line. Luckily we know exactly where we're going. The billboards started popping up about twenty miles back, the huge hairy face of the Boggy Creek Monster Mart. We're close now, and the tree lined highway is pretty desolate, so I break my own rule and really start gunning it. Sarah peers out her window, craning her neck at one of the faded Monster Mart signs.

"Just a couple more miles." She says quietly.

"Are you ready?" I ask, sensing some apprehension in her voice.

"I hope so." She says. I pull the car over just before the exit to Fouke. This isn't exactly a thriving tourist destination. More like the kind of dinky small town thing that bored traveling families will stop to snap a few pictures and get a bathroom break. We pile out of the car and into the dark woods that separate the highway from the town. I glance at Six and she pulls out her gun and dagger, beside me I can see Sarah stick her gun into her waistband. I snap on my braclet, the icy tingling instantly waking me up. BK shoots past us into the woods. His voice echoing in my head.

"BK says there's someone up there, no sign of trouble."

"Good," six says, "let's move." We pick our way through the trees, slowly at first but quickly speeding up as Bernie Kosar reappears beside us, urging us faster.

"There!" Sarah whispers excitedly. I see her too. There's a girl up ahead, leaning lazily against a tree. A backpack rests next to her, but no sign of a Loric Chest. It would've made it easier to identify her, then again, it would've made it easier for the Mogadorians too. I start to step forward but Six's hand shoots out in front of me, keeping me planted.

"What is it?" I whisper.

"I don't know," she replies quietly. "She's just out there all alone? It's seems too easy, like a trap."

"Only one way to find out." I say, pushing Six's arm away and walking towards the girl. I don't try and conceal my approach and she notices me the moment I step away from Six and Sarah. She picks up her backpack, swinging it into her shoulder. I stop a few yards away from her.

"Hey."

"Uh, hey." She replies. At this distance I can finally get a good look at our would-be Five. She's about 18. Although nowhere near as tall as Nine she has a few inches on Marina. Her hair is long and dark, curling around her shoulders in a nonexistent breeze. Her eyes take me off guard for a second. They're loralite blue, setting off her inky hair.

"Are you waiting for me?" I ask, not wanting to just come out and ask if she's Loric. She could just be some gorgeous girl standing I the forest at night all by herself, I guess.

"I don't know," she replies. "Let me see your leg." I hesitate for a moment, then reach down and lift up the leg of my pants. She smirks as she takes in my scars. Then, she reaches down and shows me her matching set.

"I'm Five." She says.

"Four," I reply. "My friends call me John."

"Good job staying alive." She says with a smile. We shake hands, her hand is cool but something tingles across my hand like sparks and she pulls her hand back. She looks away from me, scanning the area. "Is it just you? I hoped maybe you'd gotten together with some of the others." On cue, Six and Sarah materialize at my side. Five doesn't even seem fazed by Six's legacy. Six steps forward, offering her hand.

"I'm Six." She says as Five shakes her hand. Blunt as ever, she contiues. "John here forgot to mention that your crop-circle stunt probably could've gotten you killed. It was stupid. You're lucky we got here first." Five flashes a fake smile at Six.

"Sorry sweetheart, but we're not all as weak you." She turns to Sarah. "Which one are you?" She asks. Sarah shakes her head.

"I'm just Sarah." She says smiling, holding out her hand. Five doesn't take it but instead turns to me.

"We shouldn't just stand around here talking, Six is right, there could be Mogadorians anywhere in-" Five is cut off by the roars of wave of Mogs, sprinting through the forest, ready to attack. Five raises her sword, a smile splitting across her face.

"This'll be fun."


	2. Fourth Of July

**Thank you to the positive reviews from the last chapter.**

 **This chapter's Song:** www.y **out** /watch?v=1j4Pf228vhE Fourth Of July

"Get the Xitharis stone out!" I shout to Six. "If we all go invisible now, we can get out before they're on us." She begins fumbling through her bag and pulls it out but it's too late. Before she can do anything, the air around us crackles as the first wave of Mogadorians let loose with blaster fire. My braclet expands just in time to deflect a pair of shots that would've hit me right in the chest. Instead, the fire hits the ground close enough to Six to send her toppling backwards. As she's falling, she tosses the Xitharis to Five, who looks at it like its the filthy then tosses it to Sarah. I shoot her a look and she shrugs, pulling a dagger like mine from her bag. Beyond the first group of mogs, I can see more of them, zipping down the forest towards the action. We're going to be outnumbered soon. Sarah has already dived behind a large tree. On her side in the dirt, she fires of shots with her pistol. I watch the first two kick up the dirt in front of the nearest Mogadorian and the third one hit him in the sternum. The Mog disintegrates and Sarah takes aim on another. Six went invisible as soon as she hit the dirt. I'm not sure where she is but storm clouds are suddenly rolling overhead on what moments ago was a calm sky. She's definitely getting ready to strike. Five is next to me…no, she's not. One second she's by my side, flashing my a ready grin, the next she's at the edge of the forest, pulling a dagger from a Mogadorian's stomach. It almost seems like Eight's teleportation but a little more scattered and crude. I brake my eyes away as a Mogadorian brute races towards me. I let my lumen ignite on my shielded hand, building up a sizeable fireball. I lean outgrow behind the shield, launching the fireball, turning him and any others standing near him to ash. I hear raindrops starting to fall, although none are hitting me. In fact, the rain seems to be coming down only at the centre of the Mogadorian formation. A layer of ash is sticking to Five as she continues her imitation teleportation game. Thunder rumbles. Whatever Six's play is, I trust her. Five appears beside me, her dark clothes soaked and matted with a mix of dirt, soot and ash.

"You can teleport?" I ask her. She looks at me, then tilts her head.

"What? No, I wish." Then she disparages again. I notice three Mogadorians flanking Sarah. Before they can, I reach out with my telekinesis and yank their blasters out of their hands. Seeing them, Sarah shoots the closest one between the eyes. Before the other two can draw their swords, a lithe shape lunges out of the darkness. Bernie Kosar in the form of a panther, his black fur almost indistinguishable from the night sky, tears out the throat of the first Mog, then slashes the other across the face, turning them both to ash. The group decimated, BK slips back into the shadows, although I can feel him staying near Sarah, keeping a watchful eye on her.

"Is it over?" Shouts Sarah from her position. "Because I'm-" I can't hear her response over a clap of thunder.

"There are more coming," I yell back at her and then look at Six. "Can you take down their ship?" She concentrates for a moment. Lightning shears through the sky, right into the side of a Mogadorian ship. She's cooked up one series storm and is just waiting to unleash the fury.

"They might have flown in here," Six says. "But they sure as hell won't be flying out." The remaining Mogs look confused. Their ship is destroyed and half their number already killed-I doubt they were expecting much of a fight. Good, let them be the scared ones for once.

"Let's finish this!" I yell. All at once the battle roars back to life.a group of Mogs has regrouped enough to make a focused assault. They charge at me, blocking off my exit as several more close around me. I summon a fireball and heave it into the most heavily concentrated area. Before I can blink Five is standing beside me, she grabs my arm and everything slows down.

"Sorry to interrupt." She says, "but I thought you might get pinned down, now come on." She breaks into a sprint, clearing a pThis through motionless Mogs. We're standing near Six now and before she drops my arm I grab it.

"What the hell is this?" I demand, gesturing around the battlefield. She shrugs.

"You asked me if I could teleport. My cépan called it Chronokinisis. Time manipulation." She shakes her arm free of my grip and the battle returns to normal. I look around. The area is clear, besides the dark patches of ash coating the forest floor, there's no sign of our attackers. Six screams out something I can't understand and Five spins around at the same time as me. A huge Mog, his sword already arcing down towards me. Before I can process it, he bursts into ash. It only takes a second to locate the shooter, helping a middle aged guy out from behind a tree and by that point, Six has tackled him into a hug. My jaw drops and I break into a run.

It's Sam.


	3. Ghost

**Thanks for reaing! This chapter's song:**

watch?v=tA8AfQaUnXM Ghost

Six hugs me so hard that I almost fall over. Her arms are wrapped around my neck and my hands are splayed across her back. The back of her shirt is sweaty from the battle the Garde just fought, but I don't mind that at all. I'm more focused on the way her blonde hair brushes gently against my cheek. Those day dreams that I had occupied myself with back when I was being held prisoner? A lot of them featured a scene like this.

"Sam," Six whispers, stunned, holding me tighter like I might disappear, "you're here." I squeeze her tighter in response. We hold onto each other for longer than is probably appropriate with everyone else around. Next to me, I hear my dad clear his throat.

"Hey, Six, why don't you let someone else have a turn?" It's Sarah, sidling up next to us. Six let's me go, suddenly looking sheepish. I'm not sure I can remember seeing her tough exterior crack that much. I feel a blush creeping up my own cheeks. I'm glad it's dark out here.

"Hi Sam." Sarah says, hugging me too.

"Hey," I reply. "Fancy meeting you here. It's a long way from paradise."

"No kidding," Sarah replies.

Over Sarah's shoulder, I watch John jog over to us. He's joined by a scary looking black-haired girl who I assume is the Number Five who posted that message online. It's what brought Dad and me to Arkansas, his internet-scanning program having picked up the news story. We drove nonstop from Texas to make it here in time for the end of the battle. While Five lingers at the back of the group still glancing around for Mogs, John strides right towards me. A grin splits my face—it's more than just being united with my best friend, it's the feeling that we're going to be part of something great together. We're going to save the world.

John grins back at me, clearly excited that I'm here, yet there's something in his eyes that I can't really decipher. He clasps my hand tightly.

"Just answer me one question," John says abruptly, not letting go of my hand. "Do you remember that day in your room, when you first thought I might be an alien?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"What did you do?"

I squint at John, not really sure why he's asking me this. I glance back at my dad, who is watching this exchange curiously, waiting for me to introduce him to the Loric. "Um, I pulled a gun on you. Is that what you mean?"

"Oh, Samuel," my dad mutters reproachfully, but John grins at my response. Immediately, he pulls me into a hug.

"Sorry about that, Sam. I just had to make sure you weren't Setrákus Ra in disguise," John explains. "You have no idea how good it is to see you."

"Same here," I reply. "I've really missed having to fight giant worm creatures."

John chuckles, taking a step back from me. Five steps forward, her hand raised. "He can shapeshift?" She asks that's news to me too. I find myself subconsciously touching the burns on my wrist. I know firsthand the kind of evil Setrákus Ra is capable of.

"How do you know that? Did you go up against him?"

John nods solemnly, glancing in Five's direction.

"Yeah. I'd call it a draw. I'll bring you both up to speed, but first . . ." John's gaze moves to my dad. "Sam, is this who I think it is?"

My smile grows again. It feels like I've been waiting years to introduce my friends to my dad.

"Guys," I say, pride in my voice, "this is my father, Malcolm. I can confirm that he's definitely not Setrákus Ra either, if you're worried about that."

My dad steps forward, shaking hands with each of the Garde and Sarah.

"Thanks for the help out there," John says, motioning to my dad's rifle. "Glad you brought some hardware."

"Looked like you had it under control," my dad tells John. "I've just wanted to shoot something Mogadorian for a very long time."

"Under control," chuckles Six, shaking her head. "Looked to me like you saved John's life. John grins.

"I want to hear everything about how you guys found each other," John says. He looks at my dad almost cautiously, like he just knocked on our family's door and asked if I could come out and play alien invasion. "First, Mr. Goode, I just want you to know that I never meant for Sam to get wrapped up in all this. I'm sorry I've put him in danger, but I don't think we would've made it this far without him."

"Definitely not," Six agrees, smiling at me. I look away, feeling a blush creeping up my cheeks.

My dad looks touched. "Putting ourselves in danger for the safety of Earth is a Goode family tradition. But thank you for saying that." He rests a hand on my shoulder. "I'm glad you found each other. And drop the 'mister'—Malcolm will do just fine."

There are sirens nearby, drawing closer. We might be in a rural part of Arkansas, but the local authorities would definitely notice a spaceship crashing out of the sky. They'll be here soon.

"We should get moving," Six says.

John nods, already starting to run towards the trees. "Our car is parked out by the highway."

"I'll ride with Sam and Malcolm," Six says, "and show them the way."

John, Sarah and Five head off towards the highway. Meanwhile, as flashing lights begin crawling through Fouke, my dad and I, along with Six, make for the Rambler. While my dad climbs into the driver's seat, Six touches my arm.

"I'm sorry if I, um, embarrassed you before with that hug. In front of your dad and all. I hope that wasn't weird."

"No way," I say hurriedly, wanting Six to know that hug was about the best thing that's happened to me in a long time. "That was really nice."

"Don't get used to me being all emotional," Six says, giving me a look. I think she's teasing me. "You showing up just caught me off guard."

"So you're saying I'd have to disappear again to get another hug?"

"Exactly," Six replies, and then starts to get into the backseat. She hesitates, thinking something over for a moment, and then suddenly hugs me again. "Okay. One more."

I hold Six close as my dad starts the car. His face is lit up by the car's instrument panel and even though he's pretending not to, I can tell he's watching us. If I had my way, I'd never let her go—we'd keep right on hugging until the local cops came to arrest us.

Six breaks away from me, looking into my eyes. I try to keep my expression cool and collected, but that's probably not working.

"For the record," she says, "I never thought you were Setrákus Ra. I knew you right away."

"Thanks," I reply lamely, scrambling for something better to say, like how I missed her or how amazing it is to see her now. Before I can come up with anything, Six has gotten into the backseat.

She's just buckling her seat belt when Sarah clears her throat. "Uh," she says. "What was that stone thing you threw at me?"

We all turn to stare at her. "The Xitharis stone, you mean?" Six asks.

"Yeah," Sarah says. "That. I kind of, uh, dropped it."


	4. Dive

p style="text-align: left;"strongSorry for for the gaps between updates but as you'll see by the end of this chapter there is another book that I need to change a little. I'll be trying to juggle both at once so it might take some time. Anyways, this chapter is dedicated t Hanna, a guest who left a really sweet review thatb conincd me to sit down and do some more writing./strong/p  
p style="text-align: left;"strongThis chapter's song: a href=" watch?v=hXqXIicm8uU" target="_blank"Dive /a/stronga href=" watch?v=hXqXIicm8uU" target="_blank"span style="color: #006621; font-family: Roboto-Regular, HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px; white-space: nowrap; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);" watch?v=hXqXIicm8uU/span/a/p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;""Wow, Johnny. I send you out for reinforcements and you come back with an old man, a nerd, and friggin' Morgan Lefay. Great job." Nine is there to sarcastically greet our group as soon as we enter the foyer of his ridiculous Chicago penthouse. So, my first impression of him during our brief meeting in West Virginia wasn't off after all. We're back later then anyone thought we would be. We searched for the Xitharis stone, but it was gone and we couldn't stick around any longer than necessary. And while no one seems very happy about it losing it, it's like they're trying not to blame Sarah for losing it. For now, at least. After it was clear it was gone, after Sarah had apologized for the hundredth time, Six just tossed her hair and shrugged. "It's a rock." She said, sounding like she was trying to convince herself. "A powerful rock, but we're pretty powerful on our own." Still, it's clear that even after losing the Xitharis she is more a part of the Garde then both Five and me./p  
p style="text-align: center;""Be nice." Six warns him. Clearly the others have gotten used to his not-so-witty banter. By the way he and John slap hands in greeting, I'd say they've even become friends. Five though, just stares straight ahead with a blank expression. /p  
p style="text-align: center;""She's a witch, like from Ca-" I start to explain but she cuts me off./p  
p style="text-align: center;""I know." Five says. "I just didn't find it funny." She says icly./p  
p style="text-align: center;""That's Nine," says John, overhearing. "He'll grow on you. Or, well you'll get used to him." Five looks at me and rolls her eyes and I can't help smiling in return. I think we're both feeling a bit like outsiders in this penthouse. Six tried to catch me up the best she could on the ride back, but there are a lot of new faces and stories here in Chicago, not to mention the most surreal hideout in history. I still can't believe the Garde live in a place like this. It's the kind of lavish pad they used to tour on that MTV show. How Nine and his Cêpan managed to put together a place like this and keep it off the Mogadorian radar to boot is pretty impressive. John introduces everyone to Nine, who has stopped cracking lame jokes long enough to meet my Dad./p  
p style="text-align: center;""And you remember Sam, right?" John finishes./p  
p style="text-align: center;""Obviously," Nine says, striding forward to shake my hand. His grip is rough and he towers over me so that I have to crane my neck up. He lowers his voice, not wanting the others to hear. "Seriously, bro, sorry about leaving you in that cave. That was sort of my fault."/p  
p style="text-align: center;""It's cool." I reply, a bit taken aback by the apology. Nine turns my hand over before letting me go, noticing the fresh pink scars on my wrists. "So they put you through it, huh?" he asks solemnly. By his tone it's like he's just realizing we have something in common. I guess I've joined the secret fraternity of Mogadorian torture victims. I don't know what to say. I just nod my head./p  
p style="text-align: center;""You made it out," Nine says, patting me hard on the shoulder. "Good for you, bro." Nine turns towards Five, who's been so quiet I'd forgotten her. She's looking at Nine with the ferocity of a jungle cat. /p  
p style="text-align: center;""Hi." He says, his earlier spunk disappearing for a second. She doesn't say anything. "Listen…" he starts. Then he's staggering backward like I'm a second out of sync. Five is a step closer, a red mark swelling across Nine's face. He shakes his head slightly and takes a step back. John starts to lead us by Nine, who's basically been standing right in our way. He sort of reminds me of one of those big dogs that jump all over visitors as soon as they come in the door. When he finally steps aside, I notice the three other Garde that Six told us about—Seven, Eight and the younger Ten. They're waiting where the living room starts, a little more patient than Nine, at least letting us get inside./p  
p style="text-align: center;""If you're wondering what the horrible smell is, it's the vegetarian food Marina's cooking for dinner," says a recovering Nine./p  
p style="text-align: center;""Hey," the dark-haired Seven—Marina—replies good-naturedly. "It'll be good, I promise."/p  
p style="text-align: center;""Dinner," Nine snorts, "whatever. Who cares? We've got the whole team together! They're older and nerdier than expected, but I'm cool with it. Let's go blow some shit up."/p  
p style="text-align: center;""You need to calm down, dude. We've been driving for like twelve hours," Six tells Nine, shoving a bag of equipment into his chest. "Here. Make yourself useful." Sarah quickly follows suit, tossing her bag to Nine. Before long, he's shouldering pretty much all the stuff we carried up from the cars. I can't help but notice Five's backpack isn't among the pile/p  
p style="text-align: center;""Fine, I'll put this stuff away," Nine says as he agreeably lumbers off to put away our gear. "But then we're gonna at least talk about kicking some ass."/p  
p style="text-align: center;"I notice Five staring down Nine as he leaves the room. Then, she turns to me with another vaguely annoyed look. Marina notices and steps forward. "We're not all like Nine." She says apologetically. She greats us warmly, even pulling Five into a hug which I think both surprises her and eases her up. Marina definitely puts me more at ease then Nine's brusque display. Ella greets us before scampering back into the hallway. Eight introduces himself next. I get a real easy going vibe from him, a nice change of pace from the alpha male routine Nine pulled as soon as we showed up. Still, I can tell he's just as excited as Nine was, he's just more tactful./p  
p style="text-align: center;""I've got so many questions for you. All of you." Eight says. "Five, I'm dying to know where you've been, hear about everything that's happened to you." Five flashes him a lop sided smirk, brushing a piece of hair behind her ear, revealing a smattering of ear piercings./p  
p style="text-align: center;""Oh, it's a hell of a story." She says, her attitude switching from an offended jaguar to a purring house cat./p  
p style="text-align: center;""You were living in Jamaica before, right?" Eight asks. Five walks by him, pausing when she's level with him. /p  
p style="text-align: center;""Someone's done his research." She says, flicking her eyes over him in a quick once over. She stops by the door, her fingernails clicking against the wood. "It's been fun boys." She says, swinging out into the hallway. I look around at the others who seem as equally confused as I feel when Five swings back into the room. "See you at dinner." She says before leaving the room for good./p  
p style="text-align: center;""Cool chick." Eight says, grinning. Marina elbows him in the ribs and he shuts up. I feel a little sorry for Five, it isn't easy being an outsider. It's fairly obvious by her nearly schizophrenic behaviour that she's over compensating for being the last Garde to join the fight. John turns to my dad and me. "Are you guys beat too? Or do you want the grand tour?"/p  
p style="text-align: center;""Nah," I say. "Lead on. This is my first penthouse."/p  
p style="text-align: center;""Mine too," my dad adds, smiling./p  
p style="text-align: center;""Awesome," John replies, looking relieved that we aren't being as strange as Five. "I think you guys are really going to like the next stop." At the end of the hall, John shows us into a room that looks like the Garde have been using for a base of operations. There are huge computer screens on one wall, one of them running a program similar to my dad's web crawler. The Loric Chests are stored here, along with the tablet we recovered from my dad's laboratory. The rest of the room is absolutely cluttered with various pieces of tech; some of it new and just out of the box, other pieces looking like they were recovered from a junkyard. In some places along the walls, the gadgets and spare parts are piled as high as the ceiling. My dad's face immediately lights up./p  
p style="text-align: center;""This is quite the collection," he exclaims, his eyes scanning the room like a kid on Christmas morning./p  
p style="text-align: center;""Nine's Cêpan, Sandor, this was his workshop," explains John. "We've put some of the stuff to use, but none of us are exactly technological whizzes." John turns to my father. "I'm hoping you could see if there's anything useful, Mr. Goode. Er, Malcolm."/p  
p style="text-align: center;"My dad rubs his hands together. /p  
p style="text-align: center;""With pleasure, John. It's been too long since I had a place like this at my disposal. I've got a lot of catching up to do."/p  
p style="text-align: center;""I'm also wondering if you could take a look at this," John says, motioning us through a set of double doors. "Nine calls it the Lecture Hall."/p  
p style="text-align: center;"Entering a huge, high-ceilinged white room we pass by an intimidating weapons rack which makes the guns my dad acquired in Texas look like toys. The room is about the size of our high school's gym, making me marvel all over again at the overall hugeness of the penthouse. At one end of the room a large cockpit-style apparatus is built into the wall, an array of consoles set up around it. The chair looks sort of smashed, like something huge fell on top of it./p  
p style="text-align: center;""Amazing," remarks my dad./p  
p style="text-align: center;""We've been using this room to train. Nine says that Sandor had a bunch of traps and obstacles hooked up at one point." He taps a panel on the wall where it looks like something should shoot out, but nothing happens. "Except, Nine threw a temper tantrum and smashed the controls. Now it only sort of works."/p  
p style="text-align: center;""Sounds about right," I say. It's definitely not hard to picture Nine flying off the handle./p  
p style="text-align: center;""That thing," he says, waving to the chair. "It's called the Lectern. If we could get it working again, I think we could really improve our training."/p  
p style="text-align: center;"My dad is already kneeling down before the Lectern, picking at frayed wires and bent steel plating. "This is very impressive work," he says./p  
p style="text-align: center;"I examine the machinery over his shoulder even though I have no idea what I'm looking at. "Can you fix it?"/p  
p style="text-align: center;""I can try," he says, turning back to John. "I'll be of service in any way possible."/p  
p style="text-align: center;""Me too," I say, giving John a quick salute. He chuckles./p  
p style="text-align: center;""I know you just got here," John says. "I hope I'm not being pushy. Honestly, it's just really good to have you here. And, not to get all sappy, but I'm glad you guys found each other."/p  
p style="text-align: center;"When John talks about me and my dad, there's a bit of longing in his voice. I wonder if he's thinking about how we could've had this conversation in Paradise, my dad and Henri dorking out about technology together, if only things had played out a little differently. My dad shakes John's hand again, patting him on the arm as he does./p  
p style="text-align: center;""We're glad we found you, John. I know it's been hard for all of you, but you're not alone in this. Not anymore."/p 


End file.
